A mentally challenged girl was locked up by a Dhaka University (DU) professor for over two weeks and had her head forcefully shaved, another DU teacher has claimed.
Md Monirul Islam, assistant professor of political science, has written to the DU vice-chancellor to urge action against Prof Md Afzal Hossain of the university’s tourism department.
He says Afzal has been confining Rima, who is thought to be aged either nine or 10 and has severe learning difficulties.
Rima’s father, hailing from Kancher Khol village in Jhenaidah’s Shailkupa upazila, reportedly allowed his daughter to stay at the teacher’s house as he was poor.
When the girl went missing on November 19, however, Monirul lodged a general diary with Shahbagh police and began his own concerted effort to trace the girl.
“I made announcements over loudspeakers and pasted posters all over the campus but still could not find the girl,” he said.
“Did they (Prof Afzal and his family) not hear or see anything? This makes it clear that they had forcefully confined the girl.”
On December 6, Monirul learned that Rima was at Prof Afzal’s house. He went to the house with DU history department Associate Prof SM Rezaul Karim, but nobody initially answered the doorbell.
After a while, Prof Afzal’s elder daughter came and told them that her parents were sick. Reluctant to leave, Monirul and his colleague entered the house and found Rima.
“Her head had been forcefully shaved and she had been locked up for 17 days,” the political science teacher said.
Prof Afzal’s wife claimed their driver had found the girl standing in front of their house.
“She could not tell us where she lived but told us that she was from Kancher Khol village, where my father’s house is,” she said. “That’s why we decided to keep the girl at our house.
She claimed that they had been searching for where the girl lived in Dhaka and were trying to contact her family in the village.
“We shaved her head as it was infested with lice,” she said.
The VC of dhaka University has tasked Proctor Prof Golam Rabbani to look into the allegation and take necessary measures.
“We are investigating the incident,” DU Proctor Rabbani said.This article was first published on Bangla Tribune
Friday, March 21, 2025
